


Patron Saint of Determination (and NOT dying in a Pit)

by PrettyBiForAJedi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Crack, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22092997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrettyBiForAJedi/pseuds/PrettyBiForAJedi
Summary: If all the Sith are in the stands, and all the Jedi are talking to Rey, then who is left to help Ben Solo? Aka the one shot where Mauls ghost gives a "pep talk" to Ben Solo at the bottom of the pit.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 24
Kudos: 90





	Patron Saint of Determination (and NOT dying in a Pit)

**Author's Note:**

> I needed to process some story decisions made by TROS and this is what came out after reading some great tweets by @space_hamlet on twitter and the resulting ongoing joke with my boyfriend, who loves Maul just as much as I do.

Ben Solo hurt all over.

He just wanted it to stop. Could he just have one moment in his life where the pain would stop? One??

So this is how it ends.

Alone

at the bottom of a dark pit.

He could feel Rey dying up there, the Emperor sucking out her life, their bond, to make himself stronger. He remembered bitterly his choice not to strike the old Sith magician down. He remembered thinking that if he were more powerful, then she would have to say yes and take his hand. That he could make her join him in the darkness so he wouldn't be alone anymore.

Ben smiled wryly. Of course all he would have had to do was take her hand. He could have been with her years ago. Could have undone all the pain his quest for power had done to the galaxy. But he was too afraid to look at himself, to face his mistakes, to reach toward her light instead. He saw that now.

He had found his other half. His soulmate. His equal but opposite. The love of his life.

And he'd let her down too.

And now he was dying at the bottom of a pit. His connection to Rey feeling fainter as she loses her fight.

"Be with me" he hears whispered through their bond

_Someone_

"Be with me".

_Anyone_

"Be with me".

_Please_

His heart breaks. Shes calling for help, from him, from the Jedi that came before, from anyone. And from his experience they won't answer.

He tries to send his love, some reassurance to her over the bond. But his next breath of air sends pain shooting through his body. He can't think.

_Help us, please. Just once help us! She needs you and I can't reach her. Please!_

He's not sure who he is praying to

He feels something poking his forehead. A finger maybe? It’s hard to tell. He just hurts everywhere. He opens his eyes but can't see anything

"Oh good you're awake." A voice echoed around him.

The voice would have been soothing except that it was so full of sarcasm Ben thought he might need his saber to cut through it.

"For a second there I thought the fall might have cracked that thick Skywalker skull of yours." it continued.

Ben shook his head. And tried to sit up. Immediately crying out and falling on his back again. The tears were running down his face. Why does everything hurt so much?

"Pathetic"

_What?_

"You heard me, whelp."

Ben looked over and saw a shimmering outline of a man with thick, intricate tattoos across his whole body. At least Ben assumed that because the man wore no shirt. Just some utility harness with a hood and some robes with swoop bike boots of all things on his lower half. He had a long salf saber hilt attached to a multi banded belt. The man was staring down at him. But the man's eyes, they seemed to burn as they judged him.

"If you're quite done gaping at me we can get to work "

Ben snapped his mouth shut. He hadn't realized it had opened.

The figure stomped his way over toward him and squatted down by his head. The hood loomed over his face and Ben could see that the horns on the man's head underneath the hood. A Zabrak then.

He was staring down at him and snapping to get his attention

"Focus, boy. "

Of course, the one time someone does come to help him it's the spirit of someone he doesn't know and who is _so angry. Force he's so angry_

"I said focus! Do you even know who you are? Who you are named for?"

Ben snorted, of course he knew his family legacy. It's the one thing he could never escape from and the thing that had set him on a never ending path of torment.

"Not your blood, boy. Your lineage."

The zabrak moved near Ben's side, glaring at him

"How the Kenobi lineage has fallen! A boy crying to himself in the dark while his BIRTHRIGHT stands right above him. You're better than this, KENOBI was better than this. I didn't die in that force forsaken wamp rat filled desert at his hand only for his lineage to be diluted down to this" he sputtered "whimpering koakian lizard monkey!"

_Can't I get someone else? Anyone else?_ Ben thought.

"Of course you want someone else!". The zabrak started pacing back forth and gesturing wildly "The Skywalkers are always crying for someone else to clean up their messes and fix their mistakes." He turned back to Ben ”But for once in your life this isn't about you. It's about keeping HIM" the zabrak stabbed his finger defiantly above them and continued.  
"From destroying the only good thing in your life that's happened to you. Now get up! Get UP!"

_Rey_

_Ben had to get to Rey_

He rolled over and shakily got to his knees. He hoped that maybe the ghost would stop yelling at him?

_No such luck_.

The ghost of the zabrak was still angrily switching between muttering and shouting in his general direction.

"When Kenobi cut my LEGS OFF, did I feel SORRY for myself? NO! I let my rage fuel my broken body and started climbing!

_Wait, legs?_

"Yes, boy, MY LEGS! You," he poked at Ben's forehead again "You are built like a conservator with arms! What's your excuse?! What are you waiting for ?! Get up! Get! UP! CLIMB!"

_Rey, he has get to Rey._

Ben struggled to his feet, almost blacking out in pain at the effort. He's pretty sure he broke bones multiple places when he landed. As long as he can climb it doesn't matter. He'll figure out the rest later.

He staggered over to the side of the pit, the stone was black and smooth to the touch but the sides looked jagged enough to give him some handholds.

Ben turned around and paused, uncertain.

_What if Rey didn’t want him?_

_He’d failed everyone else and her, maybe it was better if he died here before he could mess anything else up._

The ghost seemed to sense his misgivings and took a few breaths to calm himself before turning back to Ben.

“Do you know,” he said softly, “what you have that I didn’t? And don’t you DARE think about saying LEGS!” He growled.

Ben really wished the ghost hadn’t said that. Now all he could think about was legs.

The ghost gave an irritated huff and stalked his way up to Ben and despite the fact that Ben towered over the zabrak he felt himself shrink away from him till his back was pressed against the pit wall. The ghost poked him in the chest.

“You, boy, have your true love. You have a reason to Live, not just survive. “ he looked up intently at Ben. staring into his soul “ Surviving is easy, one just needs discipline. Living is hard, boy. Letting people see your fears, your anger, your darkness. Your failures, and letting them love you anyway. That's the hard thing.”

Before Ben could even properly register that the ghost was being comforting to him in his own way it was gone. The ghost seemed to shake off his melancholy and started yelling again.

“Now CLIMB, boy! Climb OUT of this PIT and GO TO HER! Go to her boy! And become a MAN!

Ben quickly turned and started looking for handholds, he felt strangely emboldened.

_He could do this._

_He will do this._

For Her. The one person in the whole galaxy who really saw who he was

And still loved him.

_Rey, I’m coming, hold on. Please hold on Sweetheart. I’m coming for you._

As Ben made his ascent up the pit walls the ghost of the zabrak nodded approvingly at his retreating form.

“What do you think, old friend?” A glowing older man appeared next to Maul and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I think he’ll do us proud, Kenobi. I think both of them will do us proud” Maul replied

“In spite of your “pep talk”?” Kenobi chided gently.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Maul retorted

“I guess it did” The two enemies turned friends smiled, then disappeared back into the oneness of the force.


End file.
